“There is a little bit of a misrepresentation or a misunderstanding on that,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said during a conference call with Chargers season ticket holders Friday. “That 3.5-year average is really a misrepresentation. What it adds is a lot of players who don’t make an NFL roster, and it brings down the average.”

The average career length for a first-round draft pick is 9.3 years. The average for a player who is selected for or plays in at least one Pro Bowl is 11.7 years. Of the 318 players who began careers between ’93 and ’02 and made the Pro Bowl at least once, 113 of those players – 36 percent – were on a club’s roster in 2010.

A more detailed explanation of the NFL Management Council’s findings can be found here. Read